Before the Blight
by Bandolera Roja
Summary: Alistair journeyed and fought by the Hero of Ferelden's side. Their friendship eventually blooming to an everlasting love. But what if Ostagar wasn't their first meeting? What if they had met along their journey through life, before the blight?
1. Chapter 1

**My first Dragon Age fanfic ever. Yay!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, Dragon Age belongs to Bioware.**

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**Before the Blight**

The procession of soldiers, trudge along the worn road, heading for the town of Amaranthine . The group is made up grown men, hardened soldiers and knights. Only one traveller is a boy, with sandy coloured hair. A downcast look on his features as he marches with the group. His amber eyes moving uninterestingly from the person in front of him and the dusty ground he walks.

"Halt!" Cries out the commander of the group. A burly knight by the name of Ser Bryant.

"We'll set up camp here", his commanding voice proclaims

The party promptly stops their march. They have reached the edge of the Wending Wood; the road continuing through the apparently endless expanse of trees of the woods.

Alistair notes the other men unloading the equipment off of the carriage and begin to set up the camp. This was not new to the boy, as they had been travelling for nearly a week. In this time he learnt that his presence was more of a nuisance than an aid, as the other men set about their tasks, and so the boy set out to explore his new surroundings.

Before he could get far, a strong hand grabs him by the shoulder, and the boy turns around to face the stern but kind face of Ser Graham, a knight from Redcliffe. The place where he grew up and has been his home for the past ten years of his life.

"Where do you think you're going boy?" The knight's pale green eyes capturing the entire attention of the young boy, his voice gruff.

"Just looking about the place"

The knight shifts his gaze to the tree line surrounding them, peering for any lurking danger. Alistair cant help but follow, and looks also. Ser Graham turns his head to face the boy again.

"Be careful of the forest, boy. Don't wander far from camp. I don't want to be the one to tell Arl Eamon, that little Alistair never made it to the Chantry, due to some accident"

"I'll be careful. I can take care of myself" Alistair says with confidence.

The knight chuckles at the boy's demeanour, then continues.

"There are more than just wolves in these woods that'll make you regret the day you were born. There are bears, other forest beasts. And elves"

"Elves? They aren't dangerous?"

"These elves aren't like the ones that work in Redcliffe Castle, boy. These are savages." the boy's attention completely on his words, he continues.

"Lurking in the forests, preying on innocent travellers, to sacrifice to their heathen gods. They especially prefer the innocent blood of children to perform their dark magicks. So, if you wander too far, they may snatch you up and you'll never be seen ever again"

The startled look on the boy's face, brings a half smile to the hardened knight's face.

"Now, go on..." He says as he nudges the boy out of his shocked stupor and on his way.

"... And keep out of trouble!" he calls as Alistair runs off. Then returns to his duties.

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Nearby the camp, a small river flows, with various water plants growing along it. Alistair sat beside the river's bank, his tired bare feet splashing in the cool water. Majority of their journey, the boy walked along with the rest of the crew, only when his strength was near exhaustion did he sit on the cart to recover. He couldn't help sulking about being sent away from his home. He had no family at Redcliffe that he knew of, his mother having died during childbirth, and his father was the king, ruling Ferelden from the capital. Yet he was happy there for a time. Arl Eamon was kind to him, and treated him like a son, and his brother, Bann Teagan was just as fond of the young boy.

That was until the Arl had met and married the Arlessa, Isolde. From the moment they met, he could sense that the woman wanted him gone. She was concerned about the rumours around the place that Alistair was the Arl's bastard. That of course was untrue, he was the king's bastard son, yet it was still in the back of her mind. So it would seem she finally got her way, he was packed up and shipped off to the chantry, to be forgotten.

The sound of rustling brings Alistair back to the present, worried perhaps that he'd been found by a beast of the forest. Looking around he sees nothing out of the ordinary, just endless forest. The sounds of the men in the camp a small distance away bring a little comfort back to him, his guardians weren't far away. A small growl catches his ears. Looking, he sees in the long grass a lone, grey furred, wolf cub, attacking one of his boots, leaving small tooth marks on the leather.

"Hey!" Alistair cries annoyed, getting up from his comfortable place on the grass.

"Leave that alone. That's my boot!"

His attempts to scare the wolf off proving unsuccessful. The pup then taunts him playfully, crouching, tail waving in the air behind him. The leather boot firmly grasped in his little jaws.

Changing tactics, Alistair tiptoes towards the small wolf.

"Don't worry little guy, I wont hurt you" Alistair slowly moves towards the pup, cooing to him.

When he is almost upon the animal, he lunges towards it. Missing his target. His fingers just brushing the leather as the pup turns tail and races into the forest.

"Hey wait! Give that back!" Alistair calls as he chases the wolf pup, grabbing his remaining (right) boot as he ran past .

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**Thanks for reading the first part of this story. There's more to come.**

**If people are interested in this story I'll add more to it and finish it.**

** Please Review.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Finally managed to write up a bit more to this story... Here is part 2**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon age, its characters, or anything. Bioware does.**

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In no time at all Alistair finds himself deep in the forest, with no idea where the camp was. Here, the trees surrounding him were so tall, and their canopies closing together, that not much light passed through to the ground. The wolf pup had escaped his sights, and he now finds himself lost and alone in the forest, wearing one less boot than he started with. Along the run his feet, uncustomed to the roughness of the terrain, were being scratched and grazed by numerous sticks and rocks that littered the ground; and so he had quickly put on the one boot he had left.

A wolf howl echoes through the woods, causing Alistair to jump in fear. Something moving in the woods, shadows of a predator. Walking a distance away, he turns to find the shadow following him. Lurking in the woods. Hunting him. Picking up his pace, aiming to put more distance between himself and whatever was in the shadows, the other keeping pace, and before he realises he is running as fast as his legs can carry him. Taking him further and further away from the safety of the soldiers and into the realm of the forest.

He finds his path blocked by an old ruin, hidden and forgotten, deep within the woods. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Crumpling pylons, the remains of some ancient temple long abandoned by the original inhabitants. It looked like no one has been there in decades, or possibly centuries. Smatterings of blood were evident; this place possessed an eerie atmosphere, a blanket of misfortune covering all like a layer of dust.

_'Oh no! I'm trapped!' _his mind screams. Heartbeat pounding in his ears.

He trembles in fear, glancing about him for an escape route or hiding place. His eyes fall upon an old rusty dagger, discarded by some wayward traveller in times past. Grabbing it he feels a little less frightened, now that he is armed, though he does not know much about wielding a weapon. Waving it around, the dagger was like a short sword to the boy, trying to seem formidable.

Taking a few steps back, he feels a crack rumble through stone under him and then suddenly floor disappears from beneath him. He falls, dropping his blade, and landing with a thump on the ground below.

Opening his eyes, he realises he is still alive he smirks, but the sight that greeted him quickly transformed his grin to a look of horror. A giant spider, the size of a large dog, was looking straight at him, studying the unfortunate victim that has fallen into its lair with its many faceted eyes. Never in his life had Alistair seen spiders of such proportions, hungry and menacing. A hiss from the near corner draws the boy's attention to another of the horrendous arachnids. Fluid dripping from its huge fangs, Alistair couldn't tell whether this was saliva or poison, though he guessed it was likely a mix of both. Ser Graham didn't say anything to him about giant spiders living in the forest.

_'I am going to die' _He thought, seeing no possible escape from his inevitable doom.

The spider rears up on its back legs, preparing its attack. Alistair closes his eyes in anticipation of the final strike.

_To be continued...?_

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**A bit of a cliffhanger. Thanks for reading, and a special thank you to those who reviewed the previous story. **

**Please Review.**


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